Ticket to Freedom
by Chips237
Summary: What if Clementine was never kidnapped? Lee and his group would have made it out of Savannah and was a tick away from being ambushed by Vernon's group. But leaving Ben behind was the reason they'd go back, but will they make it out once they return?
1. Moving Out

Hey everyone, this is my first Walking Dead fanfiction. I'm not used to writing stories around and this is so far my second fanfiction written, so please take it easy on reviewing.

* * *

"Got her ready?"

Kenny was talking about the group's boat. Clementine had found it in the shed, and it was their ticket to survival.

"Yeah. Gas is all filled and battery's connected. How's the life jackets?"

"As I said, only five. That counts me, you, Clem, Christa and Omid. We leave that fucker Ben behind."

"Kenny? The fuck?"

"What? He's only going to slow us down. Even sink the boat, that's how fucking useless he is."

"We can't just leave him here!"

"Little shithead is sleepin' anyway, we can sneak off and he won't even realize it."

"Kenny? Please don't leave Ben behind."

"I'm sorry Clem, but the boat is only going to fit five people. We're six, so one has to be left behind. You saw how he abandoned you. If anyone has to be left behind, that's him."

"But.."

"That's final, Clem."

Clementine didn't speak and just barged inside the house angrily.

"Looks like you pissed her off, Ken."

"Shut up, Lee. This is for the best. We're moving out in five minutes."

"Five minutes? But.. nevermind. I guess we could deal with that."

"I'll give you time to deal with your girl, Lee. We know her parents are well dead."

"Lee, get everything we have inside that mansion except Ben. We'll push this thing outside."

Kenny and Christa started to push the boat out of the shed, and Lee went inside to grab whatever they had left.

"Clem, honey? Where are you?"

"I'm right here, Lee.."

Lee freaked out when something touched his leg.

"Clem, don't go out and scare us like that. Please."

"Okay. Kenny says we're gonna leave Ben, why? He's my friend."

"I know he is, sweet pea, but we can't risk leaving anyone else rather than Ben."

Someone banged on the door before Clementine could respond.

"Lee? Come here for a sec. I've got an idea how that little fucker can actually come with us."

"Stay here, honey. This might be your chance."

Clem actually smiled as Lee walked outside to talk with Kenny.

"Okay, here's the plan. We take the boat and sail to my house at Fort Lauderdale. I've got a seventy-footer fishin' boat there, that will surely occupy around fifteen."

"How do you know it's still there?"

"No bandit shitpiss could get my little Victoria. She has the best lock in town."

"Victoria? That's what you call it?"

"Yeah, you got a problem with that?"

"Anyway, let's continue on. Once we get Victoria, we sail back to Savannah, get Ben, and be in peace once and for all."

"Wait, how do you know Ben can hold out? And how long would that take?"

"Around five days the modest. That's all I ask for him to do. Five days, then he's free."

"So, after we get Ben.. where now?"

"Shit, Lee. That's the hardest part. The Caribbean would be the easiest, but I can't be sure though. We could sail to Iceland, but we'd freeze our asses. Or we just stay on water."

"Or we could find a naval base."

"Yeah, like those would still welcome us."

"Anyways, you go get your little girl. Omid and Christa got the boat to the waterfront, and we make sure Ben knows nothing about this, or we're screwed."

After about an hour trying to convince Clementine, the trio got to the waterfront, where the two were waiting for them."

"This is it. Push her down."

All five worked together to get the boat on water. Kenny started up the engine, and started to wave his goodbyes to his family.

"I'm sorry, Kat. I couldn't keep Duck alive."

And with that, they sailed off into the Atlantic.

* * *

"You sure we should do this, Vernon?"

"I am a hundred percent sure. This boat is our only hope."

"But stealing it from them? Really?"

The cancer group survivors got their stuff and marched off to the mansion in hopes of earning a free boat.

When they got there, Vernon almost fell to his knees when they found the shed open. No boat, no nothing was inside. Picked clean.

"FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! WE'RE TOO LATE!"

"Shut the hell up, Vernon! This was your idea!"

"We could stay at the mansion. That's an alternative to this shit boat you're talking about."

"Stupid, Clive, stupid! We need that boat!"

Vernon's shouts attracted a swarm of walkers, and all four quickly went inside to barricade the mansion.

"Fuck you, Vernon! You're going to get us all killed!"

"Shut the fuck up!"

"Lee? Kenny? Christa? Clem? Where are you?"

The voice of a teenage boy gave Vernon a quiet smile.

"Vernon, you've gone mad. Smiling while we're getting attacked by THEM?"  
"I got an excellent idea. Now, follow after me.."

The cancer survivors sneaked to Ben, while he was busy looking for his comrades.

"Dammit, where'd they.."

The last thing Ben saw was a fist hurling towards his face.

* * *

Sorry for the cliffhanger. Anyways, Chapter 2 wouldn't be coming pretty soon.

Thanks for reading!


	2. New State, New Troubles, Old Friend

This was just an experiment fanfic, I didn't expect to get good reviews on it. I've decided to continue this story and I hereby present to you the second chapter.

* * *

"You see that?" Kenny had spotted a naval base sitting in the middle of the sea.

They've been sailing for quite a few hours now, and hopefully this boat would pay the price off two months' hard work.

"We're not blind, Ken. We can't depend on the military now, we're going to survive just fine without them." Lee hesitated.

"But what if they're not against us?" Omid tried to assure the group it was safe, but Christa cut him off.

"We can't depend on them. They'll just turn on us."

"I agree with you two. Military ain't shit nowadays, but what if.."

"We can't depend it on what if's, Kenny. We can't take the risk."

And so they sailed farther away from the naval base. Dusk was approaching, and they barely had any light to stay alive in the middle of the sea.

"It's around five-fifty. If we don't find land soon, we'll freeze our asses."

"There was a fishing rod inside the mansion, I brought it in here. Wanna go fishing?" Omid tried to lighten up the group, especially Clementine.

"Sorry hun, we got no bait at all and no fire to cook it with. We should find land right now."

The night slowly passed by, and each member took their turns on watch duty. This is the first step in hope.

* * *

When the night passed, Kenny was the first to wake up. The guard on duty, Lee, had fallen asleep.

"Lee! Wake your ass up!"

And with those words Lee sprang back.

"Jesus, Ken! I just slept for a while is all."

"No, it's not that. Look!"

They had reached land. There were beaches, deep and dense forests and fresh water that surrounded the landscape.

"This is perfect! We could just do about anything in this kind of place."

"Wake the others up. They need'a see this."

Lee woke up Clementine first, then Christa and then Omid. Clem was a light sleeper so the slightest touch on her would wake her up immediately.

"Lee? What is it?"

Look over there, sweetheart. It's paradise."

The sight also took Clem's breath away.

It didn't take Kenny long to dock the ship on an open space.

"Alright people, get our stuff off that boat. We need to find some place to settle."

Kenny grabbed his backpack that contained the group's food, Christa the water jug that had most of the water, Clem her backpack that had some other utilities the group uses, Omid with his useless history shit and Lee with the group's weapons.

"I found the perfect spot. It's not too far off the river."

They got their stuff to the spot and started to place down some sleeping rags.

"Someone goes on watch duty. The rest come with me, we're gonna start hunting and choppin' down some wood."

Christa was picked to be on guard duty, but Omid stayed with her. The three took the axe and in no time chopped a few pieces of wood. There were also a few weasels nearby, and Lee hunted them down too. There were a few pine cones, but with Lee's help they knew which was edible and which wasn't. Lee chopped the pine cones to grab the good stuff which was inside, and handed them out to Kenny and Clem.

They were ready to head back when a voice prevented them from doing so.

"Who are you people? Drop the axe. Now."

Kenny looked back to see it was a young man pointing a rifle at them, who resembled him very much.

"Take it easy, boy. We're just out hunting for wood and animals."

"Nick, keep your finger off the trigger. You don't wanna shoot someone again, do you?"

"Fuck off, Pete. I don't trust these people."

"Well then, let them go. Folks probably just got lost."

Clementine started to walk off, but Nick and Pete did nothing. Lee and Kenny shortly followed after them, carrying the cracked pine cones and the chopped wood. Little did they know Nick and Pete started stalking them.

"We're back. How's things doing here?"

"Pretty much okay. Everything was dead silent until you came, well, except for Omid's history blabbering again." Christa complained.

"And who are those two?"

"Who? Oh. I thought you were going to leave us alone?"

"We have a cabin near here. You can join us if you want."

Kenny thought of it twice, until telling the group:

"Alright. Should we join these guys? They seem good enough for me."

Surprisingly, everyone raised their hands, and they took everything and started to follow Nick and Pete to this "cabin".

After about a few minutes' walk, they finally arrived at the cabin.

"We're here. The people inside don't really take kindly to new people, I'm guessing you'll just have to deal with it."

Pete knocked twice on the door, before being opened by a woman.

"Pete, you're here. And who are these assholes you brought with you?"

"Watch it, Rebecca. They just got here from Georgia. Had a boat along with them."

"A boat? And you bought their story? You can't trust no person 'round here anymore."

"What's with this yammering, Rebecca?"

The voice seemed too familiar to be true.

It was Clementine who said the first words.

"We thought you were dead, Lilly."


End file.
